Greenland head upbeat despite no-shows
Posted on Tuesday, August 19, 2008
BROOKE McNEELY Northwest Arkansas Times First-grader Ruthie Clements, right, colors her name as her classmates listen to a story read by their teacher, Robin Killcrece, Monday during the first day of classes at West Fork Elementary School.
Enrollment in the financiallytroubled Greenland School District is down, but those who attended school for the first day of classes Monday were very happy to be there, Superintendent Roland Smith said.
"I was in all three schools today and saw some excitement," he said.
In July, Smith was appointed by the Arkansas Department of Education to run the district, which was taken over due to financial problems. The school board was also dismissed in the takeover.
The district has a total of 821 students registered for the 2008-09 school year, but the first day's attendance was 765.
Greenland's enrollment on June 4, the end of the 2007-08 school year, was 907 students.
Smith said he hopes the attendance will get closer to the 821 number, and the overall enrollment will improve, as the year goes on.
"We have a good core (of students ) here," Smith said. "We're going to have a good year."
Smith said he hopes to turn Greenland into "a lighthouse district," meaning one that shines and stands out from other districts.
His first town hall meeting, an informational meeting with the public about district issues, is scheduled for Aug. 26.
At Fayetteville, the district's firstday attendance was 8, 311 students compared to 8, 251 in 2007-08. However, last year the district started off with higher attendance than 2006-2007. Then enrollment trends changed, and Fayetteville's Oct. 1, 2007, enrollment ended up being down nearly 100 students from Oct. 1, 2006.
O n Mo n d a y, 1, 7 6 5 s t u d e n t s attended Fayetteville High School, compared to 1, 854 on the first day of school in 2007.
The district had 1, 232 students at the middle schools for grades six and seven and 1, 216 students at its junior high schools for grades eight and nine.
Among the elementary schools, Root and Holcomb had some of the largest increases in first day attendance. Root had 527 students at school Monday, compared to 501 in 2007, and Holcomb had 638 students, compared to 564 in 2007.
First-day attendance at Vandergriff was down 36 students from 682 in 2007 to 646 on Monday.
Among the district's smallest schools, Leverett had 312 students, compared to 297 last year, and Washington had 347 students, compared to 318 last year.
Owl Creek School had 412 students in the elementary grades and 222 students in its middle school section. The numbers were slightly down from last year, when the school opened, with 425 elementary and 223 middle school students.
McNair continues to be the district's largest middle school with 618 students. Holt had 392 students.
Among other school districts in Washington County, West Fork began the year with an estimated enrollment of 1, 256 students. Last year, enrollment was around 1, 250 students.
In a press release, Lincoln Superintendent Frank Holman estimated his district's enrollment to be about 1, 250 students.
The Farmington School District opened a new school, Bob Folsom Elementary, to start the school year. Numbers on the enrollment weren't immediately available, but Superintendent Ron Wright said they will probably have a clearer picture on where they stand by Labor Day.
"We had a great first day of school. I think we're off to the best school year ever," Wright said.
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